Meet Mary Havlicek of Hours by Design and Startup Princess Blog Manager

It has been a pleasure to have Mary Havlicek for the past six months as our Startup Princess Blog Manager and Virtual Assistant.  Mary started her virtual assistant business in 2009 and it’s been a joy to see her develop her company and participate in that growth.  Mary is organized

and keeps StartupPrincess.com running on a day to day basis, keeps up with research and manages multiple projects. Working with Mary has been ideal for us because we weren’t ready to hire someone part-time or full-time, with Mary we specified what kind of time commitment we needed and she has been dependable and helpful to keep things moving forward. If you’ve been thinking about hiring a virtual assistant, enjoy reading Mary’s interview and consider contacting her for more details.

Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Current Residence: Altoona, Iowa

Education: BA in Psychology from Mount Mercy College

Professional Background: I spent over a decade in various Administrative Assistant positions starting back in college. I realized that, although I really like to help people and help businesses become successful, I was tired of just pushing paper… especially the same paper every day. Discovering that I could be a Virtual Assistant has allowed me to have a creative outlet that I didn’t have in my jobs and the ability to help businesses and clients that I really enjoy working with – the variety is one thing that keeps me going.

What you wanted to be when you grew up: A meteorologist, rock star, librarian, teacher, and mom.

What you are: A Virtual Assistant, wife and mom.

Brief Summary of your Start Up: After the birth of my daughter and a decade in the corporate world, I was looking for a way to stay home to raise her but still gain some income. I found the Virtual Assistant industry, said to myself “I could totally do this,” and the rest is history.

Company Website? www.hoursbydesign.com

What inspired you? Well, my daughter was my first inspiration for starting my business. But as I went along, I would talk to moms who wanted to be home with their kids, too, but did not know of a good way to do it or did not have the faith in themselves they needed to do it. I decided that through my business, while I wanted to help those moms who wanted to be home, I could help those who already were – those who had businesses and were not only going home (meaning, leaving the corporate world for their own endeavors), but were also going big. My goal is to help women and mom entrepreneurs grow their businesses into hugely successful ventures while having time for the reasons they started their businesses in the first place – their families.

How long have you been in business? A little over a year part-time, ramped up to full-time the past few months.

How did you fund it? All by myself (now the song’s stuck in my head)

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? There really isn’t one that I can pick out of a huge crowd of people that have helped me along the way, either directly or indirectly. The Fairy Godmothers here at Startup Princess.com have such great insight and always bring a wealth of information to their posts. There are also some fellow VAs that have helped me along with other entrepreneurs, especially mompreneurs. My husband has also been a huge wealth of support and help for me… he can sometimes see things in ways that I’m not able to, and another perspective can be a huge help. I believe you can learn something from every person you meet.

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? Startup Princess, of course. Also the Virtual Assistant Forums and I’m on Twitter, too.

Current Business Challenge? Continuing to build and reach out to more people and clients.

What are you doing about it? Just getting out there and doing it. Pushing past the “I can’t talk about myself like that!” insecurities and realizing the confidence to let people know how I can help them. Realizing that the business owners I look up to have fears just like me, and if they can push past them and go big, so can I.

Favorite motivational quote: Right now, I keep telling myself “go big or go home” and “just do it.” With all of the goals I want to accomplish, these help keep me going and remind me that in order to achieve what I want, I have to keep going big.

Family? Yup, married to my husband for five years with a two-year-old daughter and a son due to arrive at the end of the year. We also have two dogs, two cats and a menagerie of fish in two tanks. We’re a family of twos!

If so, how do you balance family and business? Balance? Is there really such a thing? I loved Tara McCausland’s post here because it hit home for me that balance is different for each person… there’s no right or wrong way for moms and entrepreneurs to find it. For me, it’s just doing what is right for me, for my family and for my business. I just recently got a new planner like the ones I had in college – it helps me to write things out that need to be done. I list the major tasks that need done every day, including what I need to work on for my own business. I also keep track of family appointments in there. It helps me to see everything to plan it all out and know when I need to sit down and focus on business “stuff” and when I can spend time with my family.

Favorite book? I really don’t have one – I have a voracious appetite for books and am constantly reading something. I also like all different types of books – business, mysteries, comedies, classics, Harry Potter… I really don’t limit myself because I don’t want to miss anything good. Two books that I’ve loved ever since school, though, are To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank. I still pick them up and re-read them at least once a year.

What do you do to relax? When I do get a few moments to myself, it’s to read or cook something – my kitchen is one of my “Zen places” where I can lose myself for a long time. I also love spending time with my husband and daughter because we always end up having a lot of fun and laughs together. Now, some of my time will also be spent putting together a boy’s room, which means painting (which I love!) and getting all that fun baby stuff together.

What do you want to change most about your world? I wish that more people had access to supportive communities like Startup Princess. Moms know that there is always a sort of competition between each other as to the “right way” to raise our kids, and there’s always some sort of “advice” being thrown at us. To me, it shouldn’t be that way. Instead, I’d like to see us ALL build each other up and support each other, helping each other whenever we see a way that we can. I think if that happened, we would see a lot more people realizing their great potential because they would have people backing them up rather than tearing them down. I think it’s also a great lesson on life – that part of our purpose is to help each other. We’re all headed down a path; we may as well help each other along the way in whatever way we can.

What are you most proud of? 3 things: 1) My husband. I love that I’m married to one of my best friends who has unconditional love and support for me – I’m one of those people who can say, “I don’t know where I’d be without him.” He’s also an amazing entrepreneur himself who has started up one successful business and is pursuing other soon-to-be successful endeavors right alongside. 2) My daughter (and I know I’ll be able to say my son in the future). She is so full of life and has such a personality. This kid can keep me in stitches with the things she comes up with and does. She’s extremely smart and such a love, and I’m so proud that she is growing into such a beautiful person. 3) Myself. If you had told me even 2-3 years ago that I would have started my own business and abandoned the corporate world (with delight!), I would have told you you were crazy. But as I’ve done this, I’ve recognized the entrepreneurial spirit I’ve always had, and that if I really do put my mind to something, I can do anything! I’m proud that I’m building something my children can look at and say “look what Mom did – if she can do it, so can I!”

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses? Those goals and dreams you have? Go for them. Even if those goals and dreams seem so unbelievably huge that you think you could never accomplish them, you can. Do not give up. Yes, it’s going to get hard, it’s going to get frustrating and you are going to want to quit. Trust me, it’s not the answer. It’s the times like those when you learn the most. Not just about business or what it is you’re doing, but about yourself, and that’s going to help you be even more wildly successful. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel – keep moving forward and that light will get bigger and brighter.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? Twitter is a wonderful thing – you can meet people, ask for help and opinions and have fun on there with really cool tweeps.

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? The birthstones of everyone in my family – pearl, diamond, amethyst and (we think) blue topaz.

Thank you, Mary for all you do here at Startup Princess and for inspiring us with your startup story.

Finding the Best Email Marketing Tool for Your Business

You’ve followed all of the marketing experts’ advice, built up your list and are sending out newsletters and emails to keep in contact with everyone. You’ve been using Outlook to keep track of all of your contacts and emails, but as your list grows, you’re finding it tougher to track the results you’re getting from your emails, and you’d like to incorporate more features into your emails. There are so many email marketing tools out there, but how do you know which one has the features you want at a price you can afford? 

We’ve put together a list of some email marketing tools that came recommended to us a while back on Twitter. All of the email marketing tools on this list offer the same basic services: sending email newsletters, templates, and autoresponder setup, just to name a few. Listed here are some of the unique and different features offered by each service. Prices have also been included and are based on a 1,300 contacts or emails, depending on the information provided by each service. 

Act-On
Act-On provides customizable templates and stationery for your email to help set you apart from the rest. It also contains a graphical form builder to allow you to create forms and surveys. If you have distribution lists located in several places, Act-On can bring them together and consolidate them into one for you, making your distribution list easier to manage. Act-On also tracks your emails through the sending process and provides you real-time reports on who opens your email, clicks on your links and replies to you. Act-On does not provide cost information on their website, but they do offer a 30 day free trial for their services.

Aweber
Aweber not only tracks website clicks using your domain name rather than tracking links so people know where they’re being directed to from your newsletter, it also will automatically tweet your newsletter onto Twitter. Using Aweber you can segment subscribers based on who clicked or didn’t click links in your newsletter and send follow-up emails accordingly. It can also split test messages to find the best offer or subject line for you. Another feature that is becoming popular among email marketing tools that Aweber offers is the ability to convert your blog’s RSS feed into an email newsletter. You can find a full list of Aweber’s features here. Prices for Aweber run $29/month for 501-2,500 subscribers.

Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor uses Google Analytics to track your email campaign-related sales. Using this service, you are able to customize the sign-up and unsubscribe process for each distribution list you manage. It also will take care of all bounced email and spam complaints. You can find a full list of Campaign Monitor’s features here. Using Campaign Monitor, there are no setup charges or monthly costs, you only pay when you send. There is a flat delivery fee of $5 per campaign, plus 1 cent for each recipient. So if you are sending your email to 1,000 people, your cost would be $15 – the $5 flat delivery fee plus $10 for all of your recipients.

Emma
Emma includes a custom design template done by their company with their setup fee. They offer a month-to-month service contract rather than an annual contract, which can save you money if you do not send something out every month. They also offer 10% off everything when you sign up for a full year of their services. A unique benefit Emma offers is that they plant five trees for each customer who uses their company’s service. A full list of benefits can be found here. The cost for Emma’s services is $30/month for 1,000 or $40 for 2,500 emails. There is a $249 one-time setup fee.

iContact
iContact provides its customers with 500kb of image hosting and uses T3 connected servers, making sure your messages are delivered quickly. An exclusion list feature allows you to choose lists or segments of lists to determine who should and should not receive a specific message delivery. iContact provides event RSVP management and follow-up, and also allows you to send automated messages to subscribers based on date or how long they have subscribed to your list. A full list of iContact’s features can be found here. Prices for iContact is $29/month or $313.20/year for up to 2,500 contacts.

MailerMailer
MailerMailer offers its customers a customized signup form for their new distribution list members. You are also able to copy and paste HTML code or use a page from your website as a template for your emails; and they also provide a fill-in-the-blank template to customize your emails. MailerMailer will confirm all of your opt-ins, and provides live tracking of all your emails so you know where your campaigns are. You can find a full list of features here. Sending up to 20,000 emails per month runs $29.95 per month, and they also offer a 200 email free trial.

Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s features include screenshots of your email in all major email clients so you can make sure it will appear correctly to everyone. They perform quick and automatic A/B tests with every email campaign to ensure what works and what doesn’t so your email campaign runs smoothly. You are also able to change and personalize the content you send based on each recipient’s interests or any other criteria you have set for your list. Each email is authenticated, meaning it embeds a code into the email header that guarantees your email is not blocked by filters. Mailchimp also has the ability to keep track of campaigns on your iPhone or other mobile device. For a full list of features, visit http://www.mailchimp.com/features/. Prices for 501-2,500 subscribers is $30/month, and they also offer a PAYGO plan to use as you need. 

My Newsletter Builder
My Newsletter Builder is 99% delivery verified, so you know your emails will get to where they need to be, when they need to be there. They also offer one-click Audio, Video, Flash and eVoiceSpot so you can include different types of media in your emails. My Newsletter Builder provides automated sign-up, subscription and referral systems, as well as automated survey and newsletter creation, including real-time tracking and statistics. A full list of features can be found here. Prices for My Newsletter Builder vary depending on the options you choose. For example, for $20/month, you can send unlimited emails to 1,001-1,500 subscribers. You can also choose the standard option, paying $18/month for 1,500 emails or $24/month for 2,500 emails. My Newsletter Builder also offers options to pay in bulk amounts per month or year, along with a 30 day free trial of their services. 

Vertical Response
Vertical Response offers free data hosting for your distribution lists as well as a free opt-in form. They also offer tracking and reporting to see how many people opened your emails or clicked on links in real time, and are anti-SPAM compliant. You can see a full list of benefits here. Vertical Response offers monthly or PAYGO options. For an email list size 501-2,000, the cost would be $28/month. If you choose a PAYGO option, it is $.13 per email for 1,001 – 2,500 emails (or $13 per 1,000 emails, 1300 emails would be roughly $16.90/month). 

Mary Havlicek creates more hours in the days of busy small business owners, especially mompreneurs. Her Virtual Assistant company, Hours by Design, offers copywriting, social media and general marketing services. With her decade of administrative experience, Mary takes tasks off her clients’ hands and puts back time for them to focus on putting energy back into their businesses and spending time with their families and children.

When she’s not creating time in her clients’ days, Mary enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter.